It is usual to prepare peanut preparations for industrial uses e.g. as ingredients in cakes, cookies, confections, and other edible products in the form of semi-solid pastes similar to the familiar peanut butters. These preparations are normally made by milling and homogenizing the peanut pieces to the desired particle size, in the presence of appropriate amounts of sugar and salt as flavourants, and a suitable edible stabilizer such as a hydrogenated vegetable oil. In the milling and homogenizing process, the nutritionally valuable peanut oil is released from the cells of the nuts, but is mixed into the final product and is largely responsible for the semi-solid or buttery consistency of the final product.
There are disadvantages and inconveniences associated with the use of such peanut butters, especially on an industrial scale. For example, its very consistency renders it difficult to handle, since it cannot be poured vessel to vessel, nor can it be cut into solid pieces of pre-determined shape and size, at convenient temperatures. It is notoriously sticky, and will adhere to basically any surface it encounters during good preparation processes, at room temperatures. Moreover, peanut butter has a relatively short shelf life. The oil is freely accessible to oxygen in the air, so that oxidation to rancidity occurs relatively quickly. Both its consistency and its flavour characteristics deteriorate on storage, even in sealed containers, over a period of six months or so, unless kept under refrigeration. It is nevertheless desirable that the product should include substantial amounts of the natural nut oil, since the oil is nutritionally valuable and flavour-conferring.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel oil-bearing nut composition in which at least one of the above disadvantages is overcome or reduced, and a process for preparing it.